To say it’s been rough on folks tryin’ to keep everyteeng irie in the Fort is an understatement.
When Fort Worth punk-reggae legends Darth Vato sailed away on hiatus after a send-off for old Lola’s in May 2022, Pablo & The Hemphill 7 were left to carry the load. DV had a serious following and, along with Pablo, had flown full-mast, providing a Tarrant County version of the beach, the Caribbean, and a tasty wave for we landlocked surf kindred. It was a different scene, and we were adrift on a sea of paved (or fracked) prairie, parched, parked, and weary.
Pablo trudged on faithfully, but recently there was a Floridian glimmer, word that Darth Vato had played a show in the Sunshine State.
Though several Cowtowners made the gig, it still seemed like a distant mirage.
It wasn’t, though, and isn’t anymore. No mas and muchas gracias, piratas perdidos!
Darth Vato will return this Saturday to headline Tulips FTW with Pablo & The Hemphill 7 and Son of Stan opening. The doors will uncork at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 8. And besides being back fully crewed and Fortside, DV has released Playing with Fire, a new 5-track extended EP, and Mistakes Were Made — Live!, a rocksteady 159-minute-and-9-second chronological double-live album recorded mostly locally but also at Alex’s Bar in Long Beach, California; Plush in Tuscon, Arizona; and more.
“Several people showed up for the show in Florida,” said Kerry Dean, Darth Vato guitarist and lead vocalist. “The gig and the entire weekend was a moment where you just wished you could press pause and live in it for the rest of your life. But we’re really excited about the show at Tulips.”
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The seed for Darth Vato was planted in the basement laundry of Milton Daniel Hall at TCU in 1997. Dean met bass player Steve Steward, and they began jamming regularly in the third-floor lounge of the dorm. The former Horned Frogs hooked up with drummer Eric Dodson four years later and played their first show at Fat Harry’s on South University on April 13, 2002.
They’ve come a long way since and garnered a rabid local fanbase.
“They love us,” Dean said, “and we love them. We’re so lucky. We don’t have, like, 10,000 fans, but the fans we do have come to our shows and sing our songs. It’s like one of the greatest blessings a band can enjoy: to have fans who really get your music, adore it, and support you. It blows us away.
“Here we were, Steve, me, and Eric,” he continued, “attempting to make a mark in landlocked Fort Worth, trying to make beach music, trying to find a niche. And for whatever reason — lightning in a bottle maybe — it all worked out. We’ve had some great times and still enjoy a fiercely loyal, long-time fanbase.”
Mistakes Were Made — Live! is unmistakably authentic and familiar, and it features a collection of instances and venues that can’t be AI’d. If you listen closely, chords are sometimes missed, and pedals become unplugged. It’s unplanned and organic, but the force is strong with Darth, and the show goes on with a guffaw or an abiding aside. It’s a time capsule that captures an era of the 2000s Fort Worth music scene, and Darth Vato, like Pablo & The Hemphill 7 (and Son of Stan), are real and never set out to be anything but. And their sheer legitimacy fascinates on every track.
Playing with Fire burns cool with older songs that were never recorded and new material given impressive texture via keyboard virtuoso (for Darth and Pablo) Justin Pate, trumpeter and flugelhornist Daniel Hardaway, collaborative work from Pablo’s Joe Vano and lead guitarist Steffin Ratliff, and some razzle-dazzle engineering and production by Grammy winner Jordan “Jorts” Richardson.
As sagacious former Horned Frog and Pablo frontman Vano puts it, “There’s a lot of love in Fort Worth,” and they’ll certainly be one irie love when the 817’s own big kahunas pack Tulips this weekend.
“The positive memories, the nostalgia, the energy, all of it,” Dean said. “It’s a real gift. We’re still here. We grew together … and we’re still making music. And we’ve got this amazing catalog. It’s a feel-good occasion for all of us.”
Fort Worth writer E.R. Bills is the author of Texas Obscurities: Stories of the Peculiar, Exceptional and Nefarious.
